Hello Michael and All:
 
Thankyou for your explanation of polarization and sugars.  I did not
immediately understand it, but it led me to consult two different organic
chemistry books where the diagrams made it all clear.  I also learned the
interesting story of Emil Fischer, your countryman who won the 1902 Nobel
Prize for his work on sugars.
 
What was confusing me was the duplication of names.  Dextrose IS glucose,
and levulose IS fructose.  And these are by far the main constituents of
honey, and also the products of inversion of sucrose (as you pointed out so
well):
 
>The name invertase refers to the fact that this enzyme splits
>sucrose (D-(+)-Saccharose) into b-D-(-)-fructose and a-D-(+)-glucose.
>As D-fructose turns polarized light more to the left than D-glucose does
>turn it to the right, the direction of the polarize light is inverted
>with regard to a solution of sucrose.
 
The inversion can also be done by acid hydrolysis, and I suppose that is
what people have warned about on the list (as being unsuitable for beefeed).
 
I spent several hours looking at sites related to glucose, fondants, invert
sugar, invertase......  and I reread the "syrup" factsheet by Murray Reid
(from Nick Wallingford's autoresponder) because it alludes to the energy
requirements of inverting sucrose syrup by the bees.  But it does not really
give good figures in that regard.  I am left with several questions:
 
How much energy does the inversion process "cost" the bees?  (Without some
idea of this it is difficult to figure whether other sugars are worth the
added expense).
 
Which is better beefeed,  glucose or fructose or invertsugar (a 50% mix)?
 
What companies in North America produce invert sugar by enzymatic process?
(I found suppliers in India and UK, but not in North America.)
 
Have a nice day,
Stan